Victor Osimhen’s brilliant run of scoring in seven consecutive games came to an end, as Lazio pulled off a surprise 1-0 victory over Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Friday night.

The defeat also brought an end to Napoli’s eight-match winning streak in Serie A.

Matias Vecino scored the lone goal in the second half with a thunderous effort from distance. Napoli struggled to break down the visitors, who defended solidly and limited them to efforts from distance.

Serie A topscorer Osimhen hit the bar late on and Kim Min-Jae’s rebound was brilliantly saved by Ivan Provedel as Lazio inflicted only a second league defeat of the season on their former head coach Maurizio Sarri’s team.

Lazio almost took the lead within five minutes, but Giovanni Di Lorenzo cleared Vecino’s header off the line. Napoli’s chances were limited in the first half, with Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa having the first sight of goal with a deflected effort that went just over the bar.

After the break, Napoli continued to struggle to threaten Provedel’s goal, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia fired harmlessly into the stands from a dangerous position, while Piotr Zielinski dragged wide from outside the box.

After 66 minutes, Lazio finally broke the deadlock with Vecino’s thunderbolt into the right-hand corner of the net, leaving Alex Meret helpless.

Napoli came close to equalising 11 minutes from the end, with Osimhen hitting the crossbar and Min-Jae’s effort saved off the line by Provedel.

Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic struck the frame of the goal with a late free-kick, but the visitors held on for an important win in their quest for Champions League qualification.